"Morning miss McNAlly, please take a seat."
"Thanks"
"Miss, I'm sorry if my secretary scared you with the voice mail last night, but it was really important to talk to you immediately."
"What about?"
"Well miss, I have all the results, and although I 'll have to do an electromyography to confirm my diagnosis, I'm fairly sure I'm right"
"Right about what? What exactly is a electromyography?"
"It looks to me that you have a disorder called Syringomyelia , basically it's cyst on your spinal cord."
"Oh my god"
"Look, I don't want you to panic, but I don't want to hide you the seriousness of the situation. But it's better if you know what your life is going to be if I'm right"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that we probably took it in time, you shouldn't have major consequences, but you DO need surgery."
"I think I'm going to be sick"
"Miss, it's better if you stay focused."
"HOW CAN I? You're telling me that I'm sick and that I need spinal surgery, and you want me to stay focused?"
"Yes, I know it's not easy, and you have every right to freak out, but Andy, the only way you have to heal and HOPEFULLY, coming back to work and..."
"What do you mean with Hopefully?"
"I mean that the damage could be more severe than I thought, or that the surgery could not go well, but this is a risk present in every time someone has surgery"
"OH that makes me feel better…."
"If you're ok with that, I suggest we do di EMG now, so you can go home, and I can contact a neurosurgeon I know, and who's already seen cases like yours. He'll tell you how fast it's progressing, and how severe is the damage"
"Ok… But what about my job?"
"You're a cop right?"
"yes"
"Then I suggest to take some personal time, or at least you should ask to be put in an office or whatever function you can have, that doesn't involve chasing criminals, getting shot or lifting any type of weight."
"Do I have to tell everyone at work?"
"Not if you don't want to. But I suggest you tell your boss, to clear the air and to have some help"
After the exam, Andy went home and finally started crying. When her dad came home, he found her curled on the couch.
He woke her up to ask her what she wanted for dinner, and she started crying again.
She told him everything and at the end of the story he was in tears too. It pained him to see her daughter losing so much in so little time. He promised her to be there for every step: visits, eventual surgery, therapies, but also for the support he'd never been able to give her.
"What are you going to do at work?"
"I'm going to tell Oliver. I have to, I have to discuss with him if there is some kind of assignment that doesn't require major exertions."
"I know you're a big girl, but, if you want, I can come with you"
"I think I'm going to need your help, I…. I can't walk to the station anymore…"
"Ok, what about dinner and talking about something different?"
"Thanks dad"
The next day she had to work in the afternoon, but she was just too nervous to wait, so at 10 o'clock she was knocking at the glass door of Oliver's office.
"Hey McNally, never thought I'd seen the day you would have come to work early. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I need to talk to you.."
"Ok… tell me"
"I… no wait, irst I need to know that what I0'm going to say isn't going to come out from this room."
"Ok, McNAlly, you're starting to worry me"
"I…. I'm sick. Like, really sick. I went to the doctor the other day and I have this disease Syringomyelia or something, anyway, I can't do anything, I mean… I can't go out on patrol or chasing so…"
"ANDY! Stop."
"No, please let me talk because I'm trying so bad to hold back tears….. I was saying, I'll probably have surgery soon, but for now I can still work, as long as I'm not doing anything physical."
"I need a second….. how are you?"
"I'm fine"
"What exactly this disease is?"
"It's…a cyst, on my spinal cord….if I'm lucky they're going to drain it, or having a minor surgery, and after a long physiotherapy I should be able to work normally, if I'm not lucky I'm going there's already an important damage, or I'll have to have major surgery"
"Andy why are you talking like this is not serious, you came here and started talking about spinal surgery, and important damage and it's like you're talking about what you had for breakfast"
He looked at her and noticed she'd started crying.
"Andy"
"I need… I need to do things this way. I'm really trying not to think about the worst scenarios, I don't want to stop and think, cause if I stop, I'm going to start thinking about the worst, and that's not an option until the neurologist visits me"
"I don't know what to say"
"Say that you have something for me. A job I can do, whatever, so I can go to the locker room and cover my red eyes with make up"
"Ok. I can assign you to the reception for a while. But sometimes you'll have to work with the detectives"
"Ok"
"What do the other know?"
"Nothing. I didn't say anything, and I'm not going to say anything until I see the neurologist."
"What are you going to say then?"
"I don't know…I… didn't think about it…"
"Ok, I'll think about something OK?"
"thanks Oliver"
"Let me know if you need something…anything"
"Ok"
She went to the locker room and started to get ready.
She arrived at parade just on time
"McNaaally, just the one I was going to talk about, you know guys, the HQ's decides it's time for a little renewal, especially after the bomb and everything… so in order to do it, they need someone to do an inventory of everything that in the archive, and guess what McNally? You're the lucky girl who's going to do it!"
Everyone started whooping and clapping, relieved to stay on the streets, and even Andy pretended tobe annoyed at the news.
After greeting her friends she went to the archive and started working, when her phone beeped.
-Hey! How are you? How do you see lunch at Emilio's tomorrow?
-Hey detective Callaghan! Sorry but I work tomorrow morning
- Come on! I'm craving some Italian food
- Ok. What about Saturday?
-Saturday is it! My stomach thanks you so much
-Happy to oblige. Now I have to work, unlike someone who keeps texting me!
-Ok Ok! See you Saturday
-Bye Luke
I'm so sorry it took me some time to update but I was stuck.
I wanted to write about Andy telling her friends, and Sam, and Luke, but I think these confrontations wouldn't have come all together, but in different times. So I didn't feel like writing a chapter of 6000 words, just to include all the characters on this chapter.
I googled Syringomyelia and from what I found, I understood that patients can regain their mobility, mostly at least. I was thinking of writing about multiple sclerosis, but I really couldn't find a satisfying answer about whether someone suffering of MS can work in the police force or not, so I decided to find a disease with matching symptoms, but not neurodegenerative. So please, if you know that I'm wrong, and that Syringomyelia patients can't be police officers, or can't come back to normal (Or even near), please let me know, and I'll go that way with the story.